The name “suits” is a pun. It means both lawsuits and a kind of men’s clothes, because the show is mainly about two lawyers, who are always in fancy suits. In season one, each episode has a law issue for the main characters to solve. However, in season two and three, it focuses on the dark side of the fight inside the company. I personally prefer the way they present first season to the following seasons. In addition, it is attractive to female fans because of the bromance between two main characters.
The main characters: Mike Ross, who has extremely high IQ, can remember everything he had seen, read and heard (has an eidetic memory). However, he was dropped out from college because he used his ability to remember the exam and sell it. Therefore, he can’t get into any Law School. But somehow he was hired by Harvey as an associate attorney in Pearson Hardman Company, which only hires lawyers graduated from Harvard Law School.
Harvey Specter, called “best closer in New York”, is a famous attorney and senior partner in the firm. Though he is a very handsome and brilliant guy, he doesn’t carry about others. In addition, he can’t stand people who are not as smart as him, and that’s the reason why he hired Mike.
Trevor is a drug dealer. He is Mike’s old friend and a bad impact on Mike for a long time. It was not until Harvey asked Mike not to meet him again that Mike left him.
Jessica Pearson is Harvey’s mentor and the co-founding partner of Pearson Hardman. She is a sophisticated manager, who will do anything for her company and her position.
Louis Litt is a rival against Harvey in the firm. He thinks he devoted himself to the firm much more than Harvey, but doesn’t get as much respect from Jessica. Furthermore, He is the supervisor to all rookie associates, including Mike.
Today's Episode: Season 1, Episode 1
Here is the script that we prepared:
Today's episode is the first episode of season 1. The length of this episode is about 72 minutes long. In order to introduce this TV series in class, we selected only some of the important scenes in this episode, so that you can know more about these two main characters.
LSAT：The Law School Admission Test Dealer: it means“drug dealer”, a person who sells illegal drugs. Vacuum-sealed: something, especially food, packed in an airtight container or packet under low pressure in order to maintain freshness, prevent corrosion. Bud：marijuana. Also called as weeds, pot, chron……We will introduce later Quota: a limited amount of something that is officially allowed Patronizing: speaking or behaving towards someone as if they are stupid or not important, acting as you are smarter, classier, or just plain better than anyone else. Pimp: a man who controls prostitutes, especially by finding customers for them, and take some of the money that they earn. Recruiting: the process to persuade people to work for the company or become a new member of an organization, firm or the army. Clone: clone is the creation of an organism that is an exact genetic copy of another. Caché: power, reputation, glory. Senior partners: law firms are typically organized around partners, who are joint owners and share in the profits. Some law firms may also make the distinction between senior and junior partners. The partners more senior may have claim to a higher percentage of yearly profits.associate: an associate attorney is a lawyer and an employee of a traditional law firm who does not hold an ownership interest as a partner. Billables：nearly all law firms make their money by billing their clients by the hour. These are known as billable hours. Billables here means the money a lawyer makes from charging their clients as consultant fee. Swan: to travel, or move, or behave in a relaxed way without worrying that others may feel annoyed. Bang：To have sex with someone. Streamline: to make a process simpler and more effective by simplifying or eliminating unnecessary steps. Puberty：the process of physical changes when a child's body becomes an adult body capable of sexual reproduction. Ditch:to leave someone or a group of people suddenly, often without their knowledge. Bar: a wriiten test that a person must pass before becoming licensed to practice law as an attorney. Hotshot: someone who is skillful or successful at something. Hearts: a card game for four players. Dickhead: a word used to describe a person who is annoying and a complete idiot. Dean: an official of high rank in a college or university who is responsible for the organization of a department or departments. School: "teach"people to make them look stupid and less valuable, simply kick their ass. Inclined:having a preference or tendency to do something. example:He was inclined to stay. Bright：clever, intelligent. Pothead：people who sells pot（marijuana）. Discreet:keeping something confidential, not to be noticed by many people or attract too much attention. Subtly：slight, difficult to perceive. Boast：to contain, have. Plaintiff: a person who brings suits in a court (opposed to defendant). Fish：slang. Seeking for information about something or someone that you don’t know or not sure about. Belittle: to put down, or to make another person feel as though they aren't important. Duress: threat of harm made to force a person to do something against his or her will or judgment. Bailiff: an officer of the court to execute writs and processes and make arrests. Stenographer: the person who takes and transcribes dictation or testimony in court. Pretense: fake thing.
Phrase
Make the drop: transaction. Money is exchanged for something you buy or sell. People who think on their feet: people who have the ability to think quickly under stressful situation With a rod up his ass: Imagine how you will walk with a stick up your ass--your move is going to be very stiff. This phrase is used to describe someone who can’t think flexible and make innovation; but also is too concerned with the rules and doesn't let other people have any fun. Out of line: beyond what is considered acceptable behavior. Make nice：It's slang expression, meaning 'be nice, act nice'. It has the suggestion that you are just pretending to be nice. This is 'cute talk', 'baby talk', where adults try to speak in the way that they think a child would, in order to make their words seem slightly amusing. Come up with：When Jessica told Harvey that he could “come up with ”the answer, it means that he could “figure out” the answer. When Mike was informed to “come up with” another 25 thousand, it means he had to “produce” that 25 thousand. Take it or leave it.: telling somebody this is his/hers only option. Take off:（informal）To leave suddenly Throw sb off: to escape someone who’s following you. Full of crap：what someone says is full of lies, full of ridiculous nonsense Fire up: to start a machine or computer program. Get knocked : forcefully to be smashed or broken. Throw out a case：the judge refuses to consider a case. Don't give a rat's ass：don't really care. Have a thing for：to like something or someone very much. Sth be stricken (out): to be erased. Think little of sb/sth: to have a low opinion of sb/sth Put one's ass on the line：to take a big risk. Stick it out：to keep going, to endure something difficult. Have one foot out of door: ready to quit on something Ride sb hard: to be hard on somebody; work somebody to his/her limit
Cultural Note
SAT: For Scholastic Aptitude Test. A test taken in the US to measure students’ abilities before they go to college. The words Scholastic Aptitude have been de-emphasized by ETS (the company that administers the test) due to criticism that the test doesn't really predict how well high school students will do in college. So now it is usually just referred to as the SAT without reference to the original words used to create the acronym. Death row in Texas:a slang term for section of a prison where prisoners under death sentences are housed and are awaiting appeals execution. Why did Mike say “in Texas”?
Convicted killers who meet the death row criteria aren’t immediately sent to the death chamber though. In Texas, they spend an average of 10.6 years at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s Polunsky unit in Livingston—death row. However, since Texas has executed more prisoners than all other U.S. death penalty states combined, there are actually roughly once every 22 days a convicted killer is executed in Texas’s busiest death house. →More information: http://jonmillward.com/blog/psychological-subtleties/death-in-texas-analyzing-the-last-words-of-478-death-row-prisoners/ http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/time-death-row
Freakonomics：a 2005 book by University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt and New York Times journalist Stephen J. Dubner. The book has been described as melding pop culture with economics. By late 2009, it had sold over 4 million copies worldwide. Marijuana：a drug made from the cannabis plant. is often consumed for its psychoactive effects, which can include heightened mood or relaxation, and increase in appetite. Marijuana is the third most popular recreational drug in America (behind only alcohol and tobacco), and has been used by nearly 100 million Americans. Rutgers University：Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Why did Louis take Rutgers for example?
According to U.S. New’s rankings of the law schools which was made this year, Harvard University is the second-best law school, and Rutgers is ranked No. 86.
State facility: an institution for people with developmental disabilities. Barbri legal hand book：Barbri is a company in the United States that offers a widely used bar exam preparation course and books. Sergeant Serpico: Serpico is a 1973 American crime film. It’s a story about an honest New York cop ”Frank Serpico”. He is a young, inexperienced cop who starts out on patrol. Later, he starts to work as an undercover cop who busts all sorts of criminals, but mostly drug dealers. →More information: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070666/
Supreme Court Justices:
The U.S. Supreme Court consists of a chief justice and eight associate justices. The justices are appointed by the president and approved by a vote of the Senate. The justices serve for life unless they choose to retire. Their main job is to interpret laws passed by Congress. Comparison with Taiwan’s justice system: Justice of the Constitutional Court（大法官）is nominated by the president, and is approved by the congress. One of the 15 justices is the president of Judicial Yuan, another is the vice president. The justices serve for eight years. Their job includes interpretation of the Constitution, Statutes and Regulations. ＊There are currently nine Supreme Court Justices, including John Roberts, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Samuel Alito, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan. Actually there are only five Supreme Court Justices graduated from Harvard. They are John Roberts, Anthony Kennedy, Stephen Breyer, Athonin Scalia, and Elena Kagan. Ruth Bader Ginsburg transferred to Columbia Law School after completing one year study at Harvard. →More information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8F%B8%E6%B3%95%E9%99%A2%E5%A4%A7%E6%B3%95%E5%AE%98#.E4.BB.BB.E5.91.BD.E8.B3.87.E6.A0.BC http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Law_School
Mike: I feel like Michael Corleone in that one scene where the fat guy…… : The Godfather is a 1972 mafia movie. Michael Corleone is one of the sons of the mob boss (the Godfather). As for the fat guy, Clemenza is the most trusted capo of the mafia boss in the film.
In the scene that Mike referenced, Clemenza is preparing Michael Corleone for a meeting with the enemy of the movie. →More information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Corleone http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Clemenza
Listening Activities
Comprehension Questions:
When does the firm open for business?
How much will Trevor pay Mike for the drug dealing?
What's Mike's backup plan if he fails to be a lawyer?
How did Mike find out the two hotel staff members were actually the cops? There are three reasons.
Intensive Listening Activity: Listen carefully and fill the blanks in the transcript.
1. What kind of personality do you think Harvey has? Do you think he is a good person or a bad person? Why? 2. Is it better to put no emotions toward people in your job? Why? 3. Why did Harvey get promoted but not Louis? 4. Have you ever met somebody who is very smart but they don't use their intelligence in good way? What did he or she do? Do you like it? 5. In the film, Mike said "Sometimes I like to hang out with people who aren't that bright, you know, just to see how the other half lives." Do you think that he is arrogant? Or do you have the same feeling sometimes? 6.If you are in charge of a company, would you promote the one who is very smart but not easy to control or the one who is diligent but not so smart? Why? 7.If you were Mike needing 25000 dollars, would you do drug dealing? If you do, what would you do when you were caught? If you don't, what's the other way to make money? 8.What do you think Herman's facial expression means? What do you think the judge will say to Herman in the chamber? 9.If you were an employee who had been sexual harassed by her boss, would you stand out to testify or would you choose to hide and keep silent? Why? 10.If you were in an uncertain situation, would you roll the dice or would you have a backup plan like Mike's briefcase in case it doesn't work out? Please share your experience with the class.
Suits
Program Introduction:
The name “suits” is a pun. It means both lawsuits and a kind of men’s clothes, because the show is mainly about two lawyers, who are always in fancy suits. In season one, each episode has a law issue for the main characters to solve. However, in season two and three, it focuses on the dark side of the fight inside the company. I personally prefer the way they present first season to the following seasons. In addition, it is attractive to female fans because of the bromance between two main characters.
The main characters:
Mike Ross, who has extremely high IQ, can remember everything he had seen, read and heard (has an eidetic memory). However, he was dropped out from college because he used his ability to remember the exam and sell it. Therefore, he can’t get into any Law School. But somehow he was hired by Harvey as an associate attorney in Pearson Hardman Company, which only hires lawyers graduated from Harvard Law School.
Harvey Specter, called “best closer in New York”, is a famous attorney and senior partner in the firm. Though he is a very handsome and brilliant guy, he doesn’t carry about others. In addition, he can’t stand people who are not as smart as him, and that’s the reason why he hired Mike.
Trevor is a drug dealer. He is Mike’s old friend and a bad impact on Mike for a long time. It was not until Harvey asked Mike not to meet him again that Mike left him.
Jessica Pearson is Harvey’s mentor and the co-founding partner of Pearson Hardman. She is a sophisticated manager, who will do anything for her company and her position.
Louis Litt is a rival against Harvey in the firm. He thinks he devoted himself to the firm much more than Harvey, but doesn’t get as much respect from Jessica. Furthermore, He is the supervisor to all rookie associates, including Mike.
Today's Episode: Season 1, Episode 1
Here is the script that we prepared:
Today's episode is the first episode of season 1. The length of this episode is about 72 minutes long. In order to introduce this TV series in class, we selected only some of the important scenes in this episode, so that you can know more about these two main characters.
You can watch the full episode here:
http://www.fun698.com/vod-play-id-35152-sid-0-pid-0.html (Chinese subtitle)
(Please make sure that you have installed QVOD if you want to watch it on www.fun698.com)
Volcabulary
B-minus：the grades scale American schools use：A+、A、A-、B+、B、B-……How to convert your GPA to a 4.0 scale?
A=4.0 A‾ =3.7 B+ =3.3 B=3.0 B‾ =2.7…….and so on.
→More information: http://www.collegeboard.com/html/academicTracker-howtoconvert.html
LSAT：The Law School Admission Test
Dealer: it means“drug dealer”, a person who sells illegal drugs.
Vacuum-sealed: something, especially food, packed in an airtight container or packet under low pressure in order to maintain freshness, prevent corrosion.
Bud：marijuana. Also called as weeds, pot, chron……We will introduce later
Quota: a limited amount of something that is officially allowed
Patronizing: speaking or behaving towards someone as if they are stupid or not important, acting as you are smarter, classier, or just plain better than anyone else.
Pimp: a man who controls prostitutes, especially by finding customers for them, and take some of the money that they earn.
Recruiting: the process to persuade people to work for the company or become a new member of an organization, firm or the army.
Clone: clone is the creation of an organism that is an exact genetic copy of another.
Caché: power, reputation, glory.
Senior partners: law firms are typically organized around partners, who are joint owners and share in the profits. Some law firms may also make the distinction between senior and junior partners. The partners more senior may have claim to a higher percentage of yearly profits.associate: an associate attorney is a lawyer and an employee of a traditional law firm who does not hold an ownership interest as a partner.
Billables：nearly all law firms make their money by billing their clients by the hour. These are known as billable hours. Billables here means the money a lawyer makes from charging their clients as consultant fee.
Swan: to travel, or move, or behave in a relaxed way without worrying that others may feel annoyed.
Bang：To have sex with someone.
Streamline: to make a process simpler and more effective by simplifying or eliminating unnecessary steps.
Puberty：the process of physical changes when a child's body becomes an adult body capable of sexual reproduction.
Ditch:to leave someone or a group of people suddenly, often without their knowledge.
Bar: a wriiten test that a person must pass before becoming licensed to practice law as an attorney.
Hotshot: someone who is skillful or successful at something.
Hearts: a card game for four players.
Dickhead: a word used to describe a person who is annoying and a complete idiot.
Dean: an official of high rank in a college or university who is responsible for the organization of a department or departments.
School: "teach"people to make them look stupid and less valuable, simply kick their ass.
Inclined:having a preference or tendency to do something. example:He was inclined to stay.
Bright：clever, intelligent.
Pothead：people who sells pot（marijuana）.
Discreet:keeping something confidential, not to be noticed by many people or attract too much attention.
Subtly：slight, difficult to perceive.
Boast：to contain, have.
Plaintiff: a person who brings suits in a court (opposed to defendant).
Fish：slang. Seeking for information about something or someone that you don’t know or not sure about.
Belittle: to put down, or to make another person feel as though they aren't important.
Duress: threat of harm made to force a person to do something against his or her will or judgment.
Bailiff: an officer of the court to execute writs and processes and make arrests.
Stenographer: the person who takes and transcribes dictation or testimony in court.
Pretense: fake thing.
Phrase
Make the drop: transaction. Money is exchanged for something you buy or sell.People who think on their feet: people who have the ability to think quickly under stressful situation
With a rod up his ass: Imagine how you will walk with a stick up your ass--your move is going to be very stiff. This phrase is used to describe someone who can’t think flexible and make innovation; but also is too concerned with the rules and doesn't let other people have any fun.
Out of line: beyond what is considered acceptable behavior.
Make nice：It's slang expression, meaning 'be nice, act nice'. It has the suggestion that you are just pretending to be nice. This is 'cute talk', 'baby talk', where adults try to speak in the way that they think a child would, in order to make their words seem slightly amusing.
Come up with：When Jessica told Harvey that he could “come up with ”the answer, it means that he could “figure out” the answer. When Mike was informed to “come up with” another 25 thousand, it means he had to “produce” that 25 thousand.
Take it or leave it.: telling somebody this is his/hers only option.
Take off:（informal）To leave suddenly
Throw sb off: to escape someone who’s following you.
Full of crap：what someone says is full of lies, full of ridiculous nonsense
Fire up: to start a machine or computer program.
Get knocked : forcefully to be smashed or broken.
Throw out a case：the judge refuses to consider a case.
Don't give a rat's ass：don't really care.
Have a thing for：to like something or someone very much.
Sth be stricken (out): to be erased.
Think little of sb/sth: to have a low opinion of sb/sth
Put one's ass on the line：to take a big risk.
Stick it out：to keep going, to endure something difficult.
Have one foot out of door: ready to quit on something
Ride sb hard: to be hard on somebody; work somebody to his/her limit
Cultural Note
SAT: For Scholastic Aptitude Test. A test taken in the US to measure students’ abilities before they go to college. The words Scholastic Aptitude have been de-emphasized by ETS (the company that administers the test) due to criticism that the test doesn't really predict how well high school students will do in college. So now it is usually just referred to as the SAT without reference to the original words used to create the acronym.
Death row in Texas:a slang term for section of a prison where prisoners under death sentences are housed and are awaiting appeals execution.
Why did Mike say “in Texas”?
Convicted killers who meet the death row criteria aren’t immediately sent to the death chamber though. In Texas, they spend an average of 10.6 years at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s Polunsky unit in Livingston—death row. However, since Texas has executed more prisoners than all other U.S. death penalty states combined, there are actually roughly once every 22 days a convicted killer is executed in Texas’s busiest death house.
→More information:
http://jonmillward.com/blog/psychological-subtleties/death-in-texas-analyzing-the-last-words-of-478-death-row-prisoners/
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/time-death-row
Freakonomics：a 2005 book by University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt and New York Times journalist Stephen J. Dubner. The book has been described as melding pop culture with economics. By late 2009, it had sold over 4 million copies worldwide.
Marijuana：a drug made from the cannabis plant. is often consumed for its psychoactive effects, which can include heightened mood or relaxation, and increase in appetite. Marijuana is the third most popular recreational drug in America (behind only alcohol and tobacco), and has been used by nearly 100 million Americans.
Rutgers University：Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.
Why did Louis take Rutgers for example?
According to U.S. New’s rankings of the law schools which was made this year, Harvard University is the second-best law school, and Rutgers is ranked No. 86.
→More information:
http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/law-rankings
State facility: an institution for people with developmental disabilities.
Barbri legal hand book：Barbri is a company in the United States that offers a widely used bar exam preparation course and books.
Sergeant Serpico: Serpico is a 1973 American crime film. It’s a story about an honest New York cop ”Frank Serpico”. He is a young, inexperienced cop who starts out on patrol. Later, he starts to work as an undercover cop who busts all sorts of criminals, but mostly drug dealers.
→More information:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070666/
Supreme Court Justices:
The U.S. Supreme Court consists of a chief justice and eight associate justices. The justices are appointed by the president and approved by a vote of the Senate. The justices serve for life unless they choose to retire. Their main job is to interpret laws passed by Congress.
Comparison with Taiwan’s justice system: Justice of the Constitutional Court（大法官）is nominated by the president, and is approved by the congress. One of the 15 justices is the president of Judicial Yuan, another is the vice president. The justices serve for eight years. Their job includes interpretation of the Constitution, Statutes and Regulations.
＊There are currently nine Supreme Court Justices, including John Roberts, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Samuel Alito, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan. Actually there are only five Supreme Court Justices graduated from Harvard. They are John Roberts, Anthony Kennedy, Stephen Breyer, Athonin Scalia, and Elena Kagan. Ruth Bader Ginsburg transferred to Columbia Law School after completing one year study at Harvard.
→More information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States
http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8F%B8%E6%B3%95%E9%99%A2%E5%A4%A7%E6%B3%95%E5%AE%98#.E4.BB.BB.E5.91.BD.E8.B3.87.E6.A0.BC
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Law_School
Mike: I feel like Michael Corleone in that one scene where the fat guy…… :
The Godfather is a 1972 mafia movie. Michael Corleone is one of the sons of the mob boss (the Godfather). As for the fat guy, Clemenza is the most trusted capo of the mafia boss in the film.
In the scene that Mike referenced, Clemenza is preparing Michael Corleone for a meeting with the enemy of the movie.
→More information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Corleone
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Clemenza
Listening Activities
Comprehension Questions:Intensive Listening Activity: Listen carefully and fill the blanks in the transcript.
Discussion Questions:
1. What kind of personality do you think Harvey has? Do you think he is a good person or a bad person? Why?2. Is it better to put no emotions toward people in your job? Why?
3. Why did Harvey get promoted but not Louis?
4. Have you ever met somebody who is very smart but they don't use their intelligence in good way? What did he or she do? Do you like it?
5. In the film, Mike said "Sometimes I like to hang out with people who aren't that bright, you know, just to see how the other half lives." Do you think that he is arrogant? Or do you have the same feeling sometimes?
6.If you are in charge of a company, would you promote the one who is very smart but not easy to control or the one who is diligent but not so smart? Why?
7.If you were Mike needing 25000 dollars, would you do drug dealing? If you do, what would you do when you were caught? If you don't, what's the other way to make money?
8.What do you think Herman's facial expression means? What do you think the judge will say to Herman in the chamber?
9.If you were an employee who had been sexual harassed by her boss, would you stand out to testify or would you choose to hide and keep silent? Why?
10.If you were in an uncertain situation, would you roll the dice or would you have a backup plan like Mike's briefcase in case it doesn't work out? Please share your experience with the class.
More Links:
Here is the official Suits page on facebook:http://www.facebook.com/SUITSonUSA?fref=ts
You can find detailed information here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suits_(TV_series)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1632701/